SALLY WATSON MISSES CUT

VIKKI LAING IN CHINA MIX

NEWS RELEASE FROM LADIES EUROPEAN TOUR

Xiamen, China  - Belgium’s Chloe Leurquin, South African Connie Chen and Chinese-Taipei amateur Cheng Ssu-Chia share a one-shot lead on six under par going into Sunday’s Xiamen Open final round at Orient Golf and Country Club in China.

Leurquin and Cheng were four under for the day and round one leader Chen two under.

Eleven players are separated by only three shots at the top of the leader board. Scot Vikki Laing (pictured) and Australian Nikki Garrett are five under while only two shots off the lead are Liz Young, Falkirk-based American Beth Allen, Minea Blomqvist, Marion Ricordeau and Alexandra Vilatte in a tie for sixth on four under par.

Ladies European Tour rookie Leurquin had been seven under approaching her last hole. However, she bogeyed the par-5 ninth to drop into a share of the lead.

The 24-year-old from Royal Waterloo Golf Club said: “Last week, I was tied for the lead for a few holes and then I screwed up as I had a few doubles in a row, but this is the first time I’ve finished my round in the lead.

“I was playing pretty solid the first nine, so two birdies and one bogey on nine. Then I had four birdies in a row. I had quite long putts on one and two and then chipped in on three. I put it very close on four so that was a real birdie and then I had a couple of stupid bogeys after but it was good.”

Leurquin is currently lying in 99^th on the LET order of merit and she needs to finish inside the top 80 on the season-ending exemption ranking, once those who have played fewer than six events are removed, to keep her full tour card for 2015.

Last year, she won the final event on the LET Access Series, the Mineks Ladies Classic in Turkey, to gain her playing rights for the 2014 Ladies European Tour, therefore she knows she has the guts to succeed.

She added: “I need to work a little bit to keep my card for next year so hopefully this tournament will be enough so that I don’t have pressure in India and Dubai.

“I’m playing well at the moment so a win is on my mind but I’ll just try to play like I did today and yesterday, just play for the green and two putt, or one putt if it falls in.”

Chen, playing out of Imperial Springs in Guangdong, China, was bogey-free with two birdies on the sixth and 11^th holes. The 22-year-old commented: “Today my long game wasn’t that great and I struggled off the tee on the front nine. I got it together on the back nine.

“I hit a bad 3-wood on the 12^th hole but my putt on that hole was on the lip and it dropped after five seconds on the lip, so that was quite entertaining. I had seven metres up the hill for par and it sat on the lip I swear for five seconds and everyone was like, ‘what?’”

High school student Cheng, 17, has already won three times on the professional Taiwan Ladies Professional Golf Association (TLPGA) Tour, including two titles last year and one this year.
In August, she lost a play-off at the China Trust Ladies Open on the China LPGA Tour and she recently tied for 15^th in the Fubon LPGA Taiwan Championship in October.

She said: “I feel pretty confident in myself because I think I’ve played good golf this week and my shots and putting are really good.”

LET No.2 Charley Hull is only four shots adrift on two under par after a 69, which included seven birdies and four bogeys.

Hull said: “I’ll just keep on playing golf the same as I played the back nine. I came in with 32 so I’m pretty happy and I’ll just carry that form into tomorrow.”

More warm and sunny conditions are forecast for the final round with highs of 27 Celsius.

SECOND-ROUND SCORES

par 144 (2x72)

138 Chloe Leurquin (BEL)  70 68, Connie Chen (RSA)  68 70, Ssu-Chia Cheng (TPE)  70 68

139 Nikki Garrett (AUS)  69 70, Vikki Laing (SCO)  72 67

140 Marion Ricordeau (FRA)  72 68, Minea Blomqvist (FIN)  70 70, Joanna Klatten (FRA)  72 68, Liz Young (ENG)  69 71, Alexandra Vilatte (FRA)  70 70, Beth Allen (USA)  69 71

141 Xi Yu Lin (CHN)  71 70, Rebecca Artis (AUS)  71 70, Titiya Plucksataporn (THA)  72 69, Jade Schaeffer (FRA)  71 70, Caroline Martens (NOR)  70 71

142 Charley Hull (ENG)  73 69, Tiranan Yoopan (THA)  72 70, Becky Morgan (WAL)  71 71, Li Qing Chen (CHN)  70 72

143 Michelle Koh (MYS)  75 68, Meng-Chu Chen (TPE)  71 72, Maria Hernandez (ESP)  71 72, Tzu Chi Lin (TPE)  74 69

144 Sarah Kemp (AUS)  72 72, Kylie Walker (SCO)  71 73, Jienalin Zhang (CHN)  75 69, Pan Pan Yan (CHN)  72 72, Ashleigh Simon (RSA)  71 73, Malene Jorgensen (DEN)  72 72, Pamela Pretswell (SCO)  72 72, Yu Ting Shi (CHN)  71 73, Saraporn Chamchoi (THA)  74 70, Ursula Wikstrom (FIN)  74 70

145 Pimpadsorn Sangkagaro (THA)  72 73, Pei-Yun Chien (TPE)  76 69, Caroline Afonso (FRA)  75 70, Maha Haddioui (MAR)  76 69, Florentyna Parker (ENG)  73 72, Hannah Burke (ENG)  72 73, Cassandra Kirkland (FRA)  72 73

146 Noora Tamminen (FIN)  69 77, Ann-Kathrin Lindner (GER)  73 73, Sahra Hassan (WAL)  72 74, Aunchisa Utama (THA)  75 71, Lydia Hall (WAL)  75 71, Aretha Pan (MYS)  73 73

147 Qi Feng Xiao (CHN)  73 74, Wichanee Meechai (THA)  71 76, Becky Brewerton (WAL)  72 75, Stacy Lee Bregman (RSA)  75 72, Kusuma Meechai (THA)  76 71, Whitney Hillier (AUS)  74 73, Hong Tian (CHN)  74 73, Eleanor Givens (ENG)  74 73, Stephanie Na (AUS)  71 76, Gwladys Nocera (FRA)  72 75, Valentine Derrey (FRA)  75 72

148 Klara Spilkova (CZE)  72 76, Mireia Prat (ESP)  73 75

149 Alison Whitaker (AUS)  77 72, Nikki Campbell (AUS)  75 74, Holly Aitchison (ENG)  76 73, Rungthiwa Pangjan (THA)  74 75, Dan Li (CHN)  79 70, Lanlan Sun (CHN)  78 71, Louise Larsson (SWE)  74 75, Hsuan-Ping Chang (TPE)  77 72

MISSED THE CUT

150 Juanjuan Tao (CHN)  74 76, Bree Arthur (AUS)  78 72, Leigh Whittaker (GER)  74 76, Sally Watson (SCO)  75 75, Stacey Keating (AUS)  76 74, Pennapa Pulsawath (THA)  74 76

151 Mohan Du (CHN)  77 74, Cai Zhu Guo (CHN)  75 76, Ajira Nualraksa (THA)  79 72, Fabienne In-albon (SWI)  77 74, Narisara Kerdrit (THA)  72 79, Ziqi Ye (CHN)  76 75, Victoria Lovelady (BRA)  75 76

152 Tanaporn Kongkiatkrai (THA)  76 76, Wannasiri Sirisampant (THA)  76 76, Ai-Chen Kuo (TPE)  75 77, Ling Ling Tan (CHN)  78 74

153 Georgina Simpson (ENG)  77 76, Supakchaya Pattaranakrueang (THA)  75 78, Patricia Sanz Barrio (ESP)  78 75, Felicity Johnson (ENG)  77 76

154 Lucy Williams (ENG)  78 76, XiaoHong Chen (CHN)  75 79

155 Yue Xia Lu (CHN)  75 80, Piyathida Ployumsri (THA)  79 76

156 Zi Li (CHN)  82 74

157 Cuixia Chen (CHN)  77 80, Ying Yu (CHN)  76 81

158 Ying Hua Wang (CHN)  78 80

159 Chang Yu Qiao (CHN)  80 79, Xiaolian Tong (CHN)  78 81

160 - Hathaikarn Wongwaikijphaisal (THA)  82 78

161 - YanJiao Jiang (CHN)  79 82, Qin He (CHN)  81 80, Yun Bai (CHN)  87 74, JiaYi Zhou (CHN)  78 83

162 - Hailing Zhang (CHN)  82 80

163 - Mengzhu Wang (CHN)  82 81

164 - Xing'e Wang (CHN)  76 88, Shuhua Wang (CHN)  82 82

169 - Xiangli Li (CHN)  79 90

176 - Yuan Tan (CHN)  87 89

RTD – Ashley Ona, Jaruporn Palakawong, Amolkan Phalajivin, Jiali Wan